ECB President hopeful supports bank’s current stance
The nominee to be the next President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, has said she supports the current stance of the ECB.
The ECB maintains that “a highly accommodative policy stance is warranted for a prolonged period of time in order to bring inflation back to below or close to 2%.”
Ms Lagarde was speaking before the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee today.
Her appointment to the ECB must be approved by the Parliament and MEPs are due vote on whether to approve her nomination later this month.
Responding to a question on the impact of negative deposit rates on savers, Ms Lagarde said she wants people of the euro area to understand why decisions are being made.
She said with the “threats on the horizon” a more accommodative monetary policy is justified.
Ms Lagarde also said that during the financial crisis “everyone had to transgress the rules for the public good – we made sure there was no meltdown or bank run to protect depositors and savers.”
This all points to a continuation of the ECB’s low interest policies if – as is expected – Christine Lagarde’s nomination is approved.
The current ECB President, Mario Draghi, steps down at the end of October.
Christine Lagarde has been the Managing Director of the IMF since 2011. Before that, she was the Finance Minister of France.
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